`Meltdown' Blazes Upstart Trail

WRESTLING

Show Spotlights Wrestlers For The Fledgling Secw, Which Is In Pine Hills

February 11, 2001|By Ric Russo

Growing up in Houston, Dave Erickson got his weekly fix of professional wrestling by staying up late on Saturday nights to watch grapplers such as Jose Lothario, Goliath, El Gran Marcos and Andre the Giant battle on television.

Back then, Erickson viewed it as an entertaining soap opera for men. He still does.

"I flat-out loved it," said Erickson, 38, a former sports reporter for Orlando's WKMG-Channel 6. "Paul Boesch was the promoter and the guy behind the television product. It was old-school professional wrestling."

Back in those days the wrestlers and promoters used the hard-sell to pull in fans. "I was hooked by the way they would develop the plot lines and feuds on television. It was great,'' Erickson recalled. "They made you think there was no way you could miss the matches when they came to your town. You just had to be there."

These days, Erickson is applying his philosophy about pro wrestling on television as host of SECW Meltdown. The half-hour program is part of a pro-wrestling package that is broadcast three times a week -- Wednesdays at 11 a.m., Saturdays at 9 a.m. and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. -- on Time Warner Cable Channel 98.

SECW is SouthEastern Championship Wrestling, an independent pro-wrestling promotion and school in Pine Hills. Bruce Wren is the owner, operator, head trainer and a part-time wrestler with the organization.

Last year, SECW put on several shows around Central Florida, including a St. Patrick's Day event that filled the streets of downtown Orlando.

Before working with Erickson and his partner, Chuck Moffat, Wren had a SECW television show that consisted of taped highlights of matches from live events. At first Wren was apprehensive about Erickson and Moffat tinkering with his product, but that changed once he was shown the first installment of Meltdown.

"It was absolutely fantastic. I couldn't wait to show it to everybody associated with SouthEastern Championship Wrestling,'' Wren said. "The production values were good, the interview segments were good and the action was good. They've done a good job with it."

Meltdown uses footage from the matches as it tells the stories of the wrestlers who compete in SECW. Erickson and Moffat have patterned their program after the World Wrestling Federation's Live Wire weekend show.

"It's a recap of what's going on and what's coming up in SECW,'' Erickson said. "We have footage of Bruce's guys in action at their live events, and we try to interweave story lines to explain why certain matches will take place."

Last month, SECW held a show at Edgewater High School called "New Year's Revolution.'' Erickson and his staff are using footage from that show on an upcoming episode of Meltdown.

"Bruce supplies the sports part of the formula, and we add the entertainment portion,'' Erickson said. "I guess that's why pro wrestling is often referred to as sports entertainment these days."

Erickson, who also works as a host of the syndicated Career TV job recruiting show, is not sure what the future holds for Meltdown. He's just having fun with the creative aspect of the job.

"There aren't too many boundaries professional wrestling hasn't already crossed as far as plot angles go,'' he said. "We just want to make it entertaining and captivating for the fan so they say to themselves `I just have to get out to see that SECW show next weekend.' That's our goal."

SCOTT STEINER IN HOT WATER

Imagine the surprise Randall Dean Mankins must have felt when World Championship Wrestling performer Scott Steiner attacked him last month during a WCW Nitro taping in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Mankins, 41, was working as a paramedic at the event when WCW officials approached him about a bit part in a match between Christopher Daniels and Mike Modest. During the bout, an enraged Steiner ran into the ring and attacked both grapplers and in the process "broke'' Daniels leg with a pipe.

That's when Mankins entered the picture. As he knelt down over the fallen Daniels to check out his "injury,'' the 270-pound Steiner -- thinking Mankins was a full-fledged part of the act -- started kicking the emergency medical technician.

After the incident, several WCW wrestlers apologized to Mankins, saying there must have been a misunderstanding about his role. When the show was over, Mankins filed a complaint with a deputy sheriff at the scene.

Mankins was later treated at a local hospital and could not be reached for comment.

Steiner, 33, was issued a criminal summons charging him with a misdemeanor simple assault just as he was about to board a plane back to Georgia, home of WCW. A court date of March 21 has been set.

This is not Steiner's first run-in with the law. Last March a Georgia judge sentenced him to 10 days in jail and placed him on probation for seven years after he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and making terroristic threats in a case involving a police officer who gave him a ticket. Steiner, whose real name is Scott Rechsteiner, also paid $25,000 in penalties.

As for Daniels, his leg is fine and he has been signed to a contract by WCW as has his opponent Modest. This is Daniels' second stint with WCW: Last year, the organization also inked him to a deal but never used him.